Appeal No. 2006-2754
Application No. 10/108,109
characteristics of the node.
Now, the question before us is what Ramanathan would have
taught to one of ordinary skill in the art? To answer this
question, we find the following facts:
1. At column 3, line 41 through column 4, line 10,
Ramanathan states the following:
After the delay, the station executes an affiliation
procedure 35 during which it attempts to affiliate with an
existing cluster gateway station. This affiliation procedure
is described in greater detail hereinafter with reference to
FIG. 3.
If the affiliation procedure is successful, as tested
at block 37, the station commences operation as a cluster
member as indicated at block 39 with operation being at the
lower power level.
As is understood by those skilled in the art, packet
switched network procedures typically include
acknowledgement messages which confirm that a message
transmitted has been received by the intended station and
thus, each station is able to determine, on an ongoing
basis, if it continues to be able to communicate through the
network. This testing is indicated at reference character 41
and, so long as the station continues to be able to
communicate, it remains as an existing cluster member.
However, if at some point the station determines that it is
no longer able to communicate, the program flow returns to
the juncture indicated by reference character 32 and, after
the random delay re-executes the affiliation procedure 35.
During the affiliation procedure, the station may affiliate
with a different cluster gateway, assuming that it is within
range of any such station. In addition, each cluster member
periodically executes an affiliation check procedure as
indicated at block 43. The affiliation check procedure is
described in greater detail hereinafter with reference to
FIG. 4. So long as the affiliation check is satisfactory,
the station again remains as a cluster member with its pre-
8
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